Family Photo Walk.

March 24, 2014

We had a HUGE weekend of non-stop fun. And we even took pictures to prove it!

Bennett is always looking for someone to go out on photo-taking adventures with him and I’m not sure why I haven’t volunteered for it before. The weather was nice and it was a perfect day to go and explore Wheeling’s downtown, with cameras in hand of all three McKinleys.

Yes, even Louis has a camera. We gave him a point-and-shoot Canon Elph and he loves taking photos with it. Some good. Some great. And most of dog butts, his feet or people’s crotches. But he’s learning and enjoying it and we love to encourage any little bit of creativity that we can.

Except…as soon as we parked our car, someone fell asleep. We just popped him in his stroller and took off anyway. He just cat napped until he was ready to model and deliver some awesome photos for us.

Bennett has decided to start a new photography project of the people of Wheeling. There is apparently this alley that makes everyone look like an instant model. No joke. Even the pictures he took of me turned out really well…and I never like “all” of the pictures of me. This time around, it was tough to narrow down some favorites to edit.

He’s calling the project: “Meet Me in the Alley”. High contrast, simple pictures of the awesome people of our great city. We got the ball rolling with including our family in the portraits but Bennett’s got more people lined up to keep it going. I think this should be tons of fun!

I don’t have any of Bennett’s structural shots from our walk-about. But I do have a couple of really great pictures of Bennett that I snapped in front of a random building downtown. He was overdue for a new profile photo anyway. 🙂

Usually, when we ask Louis to pose for a picture he refuses to do so. Or he won’t look at the camera or he cries and does the usual 3-year old thing. Perhaps the magic of the alley came into play once again because he excitedly and very willingly stood, hands in his pockets and hammed it up for his daddy-photographer.

These pictures give me chills. He is so strikingly handsome and looking so much like a big boy. Goodness this kiddo melts my heart.

I had a ton of fun doing this and I’m hoping Bennett will ask us again next week (weather permitting) to do it again.

PS – if you’re [a Wheeling resident who is] interested in having YOUR picture taken for Bennett’s alley project, please do! Simply email him here: bennett@mckinley-photography.net and we will set up a date/time to meet you. No charge and you get a pretty badass picture of yourself included in this fun set of portraits. Do it!!! Succumb to the magic of the alley!